April 73 road test Carrera RS

[fourteenten]

Hello,

In this article from April 1973 by Jerry Sloninger two RS's are shown, German license plates LB-ZH 43 and LB-P 500. Any idea which chassis numbers those could be? Can't find anything in my personal records.

Regards,
Cees

[HughH]

Cees

LB-P 500 is 9113600082
I am not certain of the vin of LB-ZH 43. It was white with blue and a non sunroof and looks like a M471 and seems to be assigned assigned to the sales dept (like 0082) given its use in road tests etc. So I THOUGHT that it could have been 9113600119 as that is the only one of 5 M471's assigned to the sales dept that was white with blue. However the car in the photos does not match with the options that 0119 had.

Looking at "factory" cars instead of "sales department" cars there was only one white and blue M471 - 0015 BUT that is the car with the prototype reversed lettering and was registered LEO-ZA 63.There was also the show (RSH) car 0016 LEO-ZA 64. The reverse decals MAY have been changed in time for this article and certainly the lack of options on that car is consistent with the photos. So 0015 MAY be that one BUT the license plate is changed and registered in a different place to the early cars. So I would rule both of those out as well.


The ONLY other possibility I can see is 0550, a Homologation car assigned to "factory" use rather than the sales department. The lack of options on the car in the photos is consistent with a homologation car and the only period photo of the car that is supposed to be 0550 that I have is with it on French plates in late 1973 or maybe 1974.

Also it is quite likely that someone like Jerry Sloninger was given a RSH as one of the test cars. It certainly was made in time for the article even allowing for the long lead times involved in those magazines given its completion date is shown as January 1973.



does anyone recognize the driver in the second photo?

[fourteenten]

Hi Hugh,

Thanks for the info, 0082 is new to me. Does the car still exist?
0119 was the record car used by von Hanstein with a 2.8 so not sure the factory would allow journalists to test it. If LB-ZH 43 was 0550, was that not the personal car of Gijs van Lennep? No idea who the gentleman is in the second picture.

Regards,
Cees

[BOYER73S]

Looks like one of the Blues Brothers to me

[stout]

The ONLY other possibility I can see is 0550, a Homologation car assigned to "factory" use rather than the sales department. The lack of options on the car in the photos is consistent with a homologation car and the only period photo of the car that is supposed to be 0550 that I have is with it on French plates in late 1973 or maybe 1974.

Also it is quite likely that someone like Jerry Sloninger was given a RSH as one of the test cars. It certainly was made in time for the article even allowing for the long lead times involved in those magazines given its completion date is shown as January 1973.



does anyone recognize the driver in the second photo?

Rear quarter window trims are interesting to consider, as is what looks like the 911S front bumper/spoiler.

Re: the driver: While the glasses, collar, and beard don't make it easy to be sure, I don't think that's Jerry. I was blessed to get to know the Slonigers a little bit, and kept in touch with them for many years—visiting them in Sinsheim whenever I was in Stuttgart and able to break away. Something they mentioned one night over dinner is that many of the motion photos were Edie's rather than Jerry's—with the (obvious) giveaway being Jerry rather than Edie at the wheel (she was quite a capable driver as well, and had experience in rallying too). I wonder if this wasn't a friend of his, or perhaps someone from Porsche or Porsche press?

[HughH]

Hi Cees
I have no record of 0082 post it being a factory car - so dont know of it exists still or not (probably should not say that on a public forum these days in case it encourages someone to suddenly "find it" ) Here is a photo of a cover story. It was the only M471 press fleet car in that color.

Yes 0550 was van Lennep's "personal car" but i suspect that means it was a "company car" issued for his use as all the factory drivers had but that would not have prevented it being used occasionally for other work purposes like a test with a trusted journalist - maybe that is why is is a "factory car' rather than allocated to the "Press dept"

On 0119 yes that was the record car and I did not mention it but it was also registered LB-P 44 - another reason I did not think it was the car in the photos.

i do know that the person in the car is NOT Gijs

Hi Hugh,

Thanks for the info, 0082 is new to me. Does the car still exist?
0119 was the record car used by von Hanstein with a 2.8 so not sure the factory would allow journalists to test it. If LB-ZH 43 was 0550, was that not the personal car of Gijs van Lennep? No idea who the gentleman is in the second picture.

Regards,
Cees

[mrar]

Looks like one of the Blues Brothers to me

I can see a couple of 996's in the background. Wow, 996 back in 73.

[Chuck Miller]

Wow, 996 back in 73.

Maybe not 996's Sean......

The first time I saw this pic was in my Kevin Blick's 'SUPERCAR Porsche 911'

Published 1988 ......

Cheers,
cm

[mrar]

Maybe not 996's Sean......

The first time I saw this pic was in my Kevin Blick's 'SUPERCAR Porsche 911'

Published 1988 ......

Cheers,
cm

Yes.
I have always liked this picture.

[nickd]

I can see a couple of 996's in the background. Wow, 996 back in 73.

I think they are traveling away - might be something to do with driving on a different side of the road